Spiders, Stars & STRIPE
by cornholio4
Summary: Courtney Whitmore moves to New York and meets her old childhood friend Peter Parker. What happens when she finds equipment relating to her new stepfather's past as a superhero sidekick and her deciding to become Stargirl to annoy him. Plus she ends up finding out Peter is Spider-Man.
1. Prologue

15 year old Peter Parker had been 6 years old when his parents died from a plane crash, he had moved in with his Aunt May and uncle Ben in their apartment in Queens. He was a smart gifted boy who liked science and superheroes.

He didn't have a lot of friends and most of the other kids picked on him, especially an older kid called Flash Thompson. He did have a few friends like an older boy called Eddie Brock who ended up moving away and a girl called Courtney Whitmore who moved away when they were 10 when her parents got divorced.

Just a month ago he was attending this public science demonstration of genetically altered creatures on a weekend at the local STAR Labs; however unbeknownst to everyone a spider escaped and had bitten him on the neck.

When he got home he felt ill and his Aunt and uncle made him go to bed early. When he got up he felt much better. He found to his surprise his could walk faster and jump higher than normal. He felt stronger as well and he actually found himself being able to literally climb up walls. Plus he felt some sort of danger sense before trouble.

Feeling glee upon discovering he had gotten actual super powers he then found himself deciding to fashion himself a costume out of a red full face mask, goggles, fingerless gloves, a red hooded jumper he had cut the sleeves of and had a spider sewed on it, a light blue shirt to go under it, blue track bottoms and red boots.

However one day soon he found a couple of armed men robbing the local deli and was feeling scared so he stayed away, upon getting home he was faced with the sight of having police officers having told his now distraught Aunt May some bad news.

That incident at the deli, the robbers were arrested but not before shooting a customer who was getting the other ones out when he thought the robbers were not looking...

At his Uncle Ben's funeral he swore he would take his powers a lot more seriously and would use the responsibility to help people in his uncle's memory.

It had been a month since then and it was a Friday afternoon with him having jsut been finished school, Aunt May had texted him saying she had to work late at the hospital she worked as a nurse at.

Sneaking into an alleyway he had changed into his costume and put on his twin wrest devices to shoot out a web like substance he created a mixture off, he had a lot of gadgets he made from leftover broken old gadgets from second hand stores. The web allowed him to sling away and as a weapon.

He had been going out rescuing people from accidents and finding small criminals to catch, it was taken some time getting used to but there were people that know of him from videos posted onto YouTube by onlookers. He was going by Spider-Man.

He had an app to listen to the radio podcasts of Just the Facts; it was hosted by millionaire owner of the Daily Bugle newspaper. He was a harsh critic of costumed Superheroes especially Spider-Man. He listened to it:

"_Once again we hear that stupid masked menace Spider-Man interfering in work best left to those with badges! That lunatic is going to get him and others hurt, killed or worst! This is not Gotham City or even Metropolis, don't need some clown dressing up for Halloween!_"

"How would I ever go about my day without the praise of my biggest fan Jameson?" Peter asked himself with a smirk. Peter then climbed up to the top of the nearby building to get a view of the streets. He then saw some sort of book van being chased by police cars and someone from the back of the van was shooting at the police cars.

"Okay so are the police declaring war on literature or something? Better check this out?" Peter said to himself as he then jumped off and then began web slinging after them.

* * *

15 year old Courtney Whitmore was used to disappointment. Her parents Barbara and Samuel were always arguing about something involving her dad; it was often when she found them talking to police officers. Her dad was terrible at making commitments and she had trouble counting on him.

She had a friend to rely on at least, this nerdy boy called Peter parker. There was another boy called Eddie but he moved away. However she felt she could confide in him about her parent's issues and she would help him when he was being bullied for being a nerd. She more often than not had to have a talk with her mother when she got violent in dealing with bullies.

They would share comic books together, he would gush about the Teen Titans (Cyborg actually being his favorite Superhero) and he would get excited whenever there was a report on the TV about Superman flying over New York. They would share their comic books especially, with her being in love with the Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew comics.

However when she was 10 she learned her dad had been arrested and her parents had gotten divorced. Her mother was taken her to move to Blue Valley. She was crying when she had that final goodbye to Peter.

In the 5 years since then she mostly stayed to herself, making fun of the jocks and popular kids at her school. Her mother had started seeing this mechanic turned engineer called Pat Dugan; he was nice to her but she paid him little attention; she was keeping to herself as usual. She was not prepared when the day came when they called for her to tell her that they were actually getting married.

She could not beleive it up to the wedding itself, Pat had become her stepfather but she was not happy about it. She was not keen on getting anymore father figures after her own dad. Pat had gotten a transfer to a facility in Queens, New York. They were moving back to New York and she was fine with it, there was not much for her in Blue Valley anyway.

She was silent in the ride in the moving van, "It's a chance to start over in your old hometown Courtney, a new start for all of us..." Pat had been telling her but the van had been stopped. They went out to see a police blockade, Courtney was curious enough to go take a closer look before Barbara and Pat could stop her.

As close as to where the police would allow the public to go Courtney was there, she spotted the Spider-Man figure form YouTube. She glanced at a view of the videos of the lunatic. He seemed to be fighting masked guys with guns in front of a book van.

He seemed to be dodging their bullet fire with little effort, he was using web from his wrists to disarm the men and then knocking them out with kicks. One of them was saying that Spider-Man would pay for messing with the forces of the Bookworm.

The Bookworm? Was that supposed to be a criminal mastermind behind these guys, sounds like the name of a bad guy form a campy 60s show.

Spider-Man looked like he was going to question the guys on this Bookworm guy but then the police officers told him that they will handle this. One of them was shouting at Spider-Man for interfering in matters for the police, that they were going to have to bring him in.

Spider-Man just web slinged away in the middle of the rant from the police officer.

Courtney had a bit of a smile, after 5 years of nothing much happening in Blue Valley, it was pretty cool to see something like this. Barbara ushered her back to the moving van, "So do you like costumed heroes Courtney?" Pat asked and Courtney actually gave him a bit of a smile.

"Seems nuts what they do but exciting." Courtney had told him and Pat looked like he was hiding something.

Soon enough they were to their new house and Courtney had helped unpack the boxes. Barbara and Pat were in the kitchen and Courtney was going to her new room when she ended up tripping over a large box. She looked and saw it was a forgotten box of pat's stuff.

She ended up seeing some sort of blue costume inside with white star patterns and a shiny red belt. "Is this one of your old Halloween costumes Pat..." Courtney muttered to herself taking a look at it. She also spotted a shiny electronic looking belt and a guitar case that opened up. Inside was some sort of golden staff that looked like it was drawing her. She picked it up and suddenly several blasts came from the staff striking the top of the stairs leaving a mark.

She was speechless and in awe, "_What is this junk and how did you get your hands on these?" _Courtney muttered thinking she could hide away this stuff to take closer look. But first she had to clean up the top of the stairs before Pat or Barbara noticed the marks...

**Some of the backstory I used in DC's Spider-Man and hopefully I can get to this one regularly. After my Spidey X Stargirl oneshot I decided I wanted to do a full story especially since Stargirl is getting her own DC Universe show (though it will probably come to Netflix here in the UK since we don't have the app here). I have the Stars and Stripes volumes paperback and I will be taken some liberties with both source materials like how they would adapt the comics into shows or films.**

**Plus I saw Captain Marvel yesterday, enjoyed it and the early reactions were right, Goose stole the movie.**


	2. Investigating a Secret

Two days later everything was settled for Courtney to start at Midtown High School, Pat had said he would drive her to school before he had to start his new position at STAR Labs. While wearing her favorite 'half day' shirt, Courtney felt awkward as she was in the passenger's seat next to him; she wanted to ask about the costume; the belt and the staff thing.

That would mean she would have to admit she was looking through his stuff and was messing about with some dangerous weapon. She was quiet listening to the news report on the car radio:

"_Police continue to be on the manhunt for the unknown criminal mastermind known only as 'the Bookworm'. Two days ago a gang of criminals had been hired to attempt a robbery of a van of rare books; the robbery had been foiled thanks to the help of New York's masked crime fighter 'Spider-Man'._"

"They could have interviewed us as we saw that happen, didn't we Courtney?" Pat asked Courtney with a smile but grew concerned as he noticed she was being silent. "Something on your mind kiddo?" Pat asked while the car was waiting on a red light.

"Pat... that engineer job you have, are you making any weapons or something?" Courtney asked and Pat seemed shocked at this and she batted an eye. He seemed to be going over her words.

"Sorry but I can't give a clear straightforward answer to it, I signed about a few confidentiality agreements but why do you ask?" Pat answered and Courtney just shrugged giving an answer that she was curious since who knows what labs were up to most of the days. Pat gave a laugh as soon they reached the gates of Midtown school.

Pat gave a hug before she got off and then drove off, Courtney was silently fuming as she went up to the gates and was greeted by a member of staff. She was giving her homeroom number and schedule, Courtney went straight to the homeroom and got in.

Most of the kids were already there and there was an empty seat near the back so she went for it. Seeing a familiar looking boy she asked if the seat was taken. "Go right ahead!" the boy told her and she sat down, the boy had been reading a book on nuclear physics and soon the bell came and the homeroom teacher went to face the class.

"We have a new student here from Blue Valley; please help her feel welcome here. Ms Courtney Whitmore can you please stand." The teacher stated and Courtney sighed getting up and giving a short wave to everyone. She then sat down and noticed the boy was staring at her in shock.

"Do I look funny to you, is it the braces?" Courtney asked him annoyed but before the boy could answer the teacher started taking the attendance. Courtney was zoning out but her eyes widened when she caught the name 'Parker, Peter', it was answered by the boy next to her.

She was staring at him in shock and Peter smiled at her, she returned it.

After class they instantly went up to eachother, "No freaking way, I didn't expect to see you again Peter. It never occurred I could see you again but now we are in the same class!" Courtney squealed as Peter showed his excitement. As well.

"So how are your Aunt and Uncle?" Courtney asked but was taken aback when Peter looked down.

"Uncle Ben... died recently..." Peter muttered and Courtney was now looking sad, she always liked Peter's Aunt and Uncle. His Uncle Ben showed she could count of him more than she could her actual dad.

Courtney said she was sorry about that, "We are coping together, but how is your Mum?" Peter asked as they started walking to their next class.

"Mum remarried, to this doofus called Pat. He got a transfer to STAR Labs in New York so we had to movie back, no big loss as Blue Valley sucked anyway." Courtney responded as then pushed past Peter was a large blonde haired boy surrounded by his friends. Peter glared at his bully Flash Thompson (no relation to the superhero from Central City) who was now captain of the Midtown football team; Courtney recognized him and decided to put out her leg which ended up tripping him and landing him on his face.

Peter tried not to laugh as a smirking Courtney dragged him to the direction of their next class, Flash's friends helped him up as an angry Flash shouted about who tripped him.

"That was you Courtney, wasn't it?" Peter asked and Courtney only continued her smirk, "Haven't changed at all, have you Courtney?" Peter asked bemused as Courtney's smirk grew.

It was later with their final class and it was history call, the teacher was talking about their current topic which was about the 'Mystery Men' of World War II, the term used for Superheroes before they were renamed with the emergence of Superman.

Courtney saw that Peter was excited to be hearing about it, Courtney smiled seeing that it looked like Peter had not changed since they last met either.

On the board as part of a presentation the teacher was showing various old news articles and old black and white photos of various Mystery Men. He was going on a lecture that during the time it was said that Adolf Hitler had possession of the Spear of Destiny, that it was for that reason that the Mystery Men of the Allies could not attempt to invade Germany to try and take Hitler down themselves.

Courtney laughed at the ridiculous fashion of the Mystery Men (plus the story of the Spear of Destiny, so Hitler had a powerful magical artifact but he still lost the War), on one slide Courtney glanced at the photos shown but one caught her eye.

In the middle one there was a man in costume with a star on it, a cape and a funny looking full face mask with a giant hole for the face and a small horn on it. But he was holding a staff that looked like the one she had found in Pat's belongings. Next to him was a young man wearing the costume and the weird looking belt that she had found in there as well.

Despite the lack of color there was no mistaking it.

Courtney put her hand up and the teacher interrupted his lecture to ask if she had a question. "Yeah, the middle photo, the one with the guy holding that staff and the guy wearing the get up with all the stars, who were they?" Courtney asked and Peter was wondering what set her off on asking about them.

"They were Starman and his sidekick the Star Spangled Kid, Ms Whitmore. Starman used his Cosmic Staff to fly and shoot cosmic energy, the Star Spangled Kid used his Cosmic Converter Belt to enhance his strength, speed and agility. Together they fought crime in Opal City during the 40s until they disappeared not long after the War had ended." The teacher had explained to her and Courtney took it all in.

As the teacher continued, she had to ponder to herself... What is Pat doing with equipment from two World War II superheroes?

During lunch she was sitting at her table looking up Starman and the Star Spangled Kid on her phone while eating. There were biographies of their heroics but nothing on who they were. Most of the Mystery Men had their identities stayed secret after the war and most just retired.

So nothing on who Starman was despite the fact that his mask showed his face?

Peter sat down next to her and asked her "hey Courtney, what games do you play? If you play Fortnite, there is this girl called Amy who is a killer player and I have her tag..." Peter paused when he saw that Courtney was trying to find something out.

"Something going on, you looked weird ever since History class... No offence, so please don't take offence..." Peter muttered and Courtney had to laugh.

But still should she tell Peter? He loved Superheroes more than she did and he could give her some insight. Plus he had been her friend for the longest time before she moved away so and she felt like she had to share this with something.

"Peter, I have something I want to show you after school, I can't say much at the moment but you have to keep it secret please..." Courtney told him and Peter looked confused but then nodded. Courtney gave him her new address and told him and asked if he could meet her at around 5.

Peter nodded and Courtney was wondering if dragging Peter into this will turn what should be his normal everyday life upside down.

* * *

Pat Dugan was happily working in his new personal lab, back in Blue Valley he had worked at a smaller lab that was bought out by STAR Labs and so he was transferred here. His project for a couple of months was at this, a bulky armored suit that was just about big enough to qualify as a mech and by his calculations it could be a few feet higher than the world's largest man. It was silver colored with a red area around the mid section and a blue S symbol on the torso.

It was a little project of his that he was working on thinking it could be handy, he had been designing them for work on battlefields but it was too expensive to mass produce. Still he continued working on it hoping it could still be of use taking care of any superhuman criminals in the city.

He had been inspired by the armor used by the Metropolis superhero Steel and he did hear rumors of an another armored hero operating in Dakota City by the name of Hardware. He did think he could pull it off as he always had a knack for machines. It was vehicles in his days as a mechanic and now bigger things now as a lab engineer.

His assistant was looking over the schematics while he was packing up so he could go to lunch. "Special Tactics Robotic Integrated Power Enhancer? Seriously Mr Dugan, you came up with the name STRIPE first and then worked the acronym around it. I refuse to believe that was not the case!" the assistant told him and he had to laugh at that. He was not wrong; he wanted to use STRIPE as it related to his old high school nickname 'Stripsey'.

After getting his lunch he looked to his desk he saw various framed photos. One was him with his old friend Slyvester Pemberton and he smiled sadly at that picture. Another one that was more bittersweet was him with his first wife Margaret and their son Mike when he was jsut an infant.

Back then he was too much of a workaholic to give enough time to Margaret which led to their divorce and her taking custody of their son. He still kept in contact with them but things were tense and it seemed that Mike was always getting himself into trouble.

Well he had a new wife and a new stepdaughter and he swore he would not make the same mistakes; he would make sure he had enough time with his family. He smiled at the photo of him, Barbara and an annoyed looking Courtney. She was not keen on him but he knew that it was mostly due to what happened with her birth father. He will give Courtney the time she needed to warm up to her. When she did perhaps he could share a couple of stories with her...

* * *

At before 5 Courtney was in her room looking through the window and saw Peter walking up to the porch.

Courtney got down and silently let him in. She told him to stay quiet as they went up to the stairs. Courtney saw Pat and Miranda going over something while waiting for

Peter was confused but allowed himself to stay quiet as Courtney showed him to her room. Peter looked at the posters around the room of various films. Courtney got from under her bed the costume, the belt and the guitar case with the staff in it.

Peter was awestruck and recognized them from the pictures in History class, "I found these among my stepdad's things, the staff almost scorched the top of the stairs..." Courtney explained to him.

Peter was excited, ecstatic, shocked and confused all at once. Before he could ask any questions they all saw the door opening, Pat looked through before they had the chance to hide the stuff Pat looked through and saw Peter, "Courtney, I didn't hear anyone come in and you should have said you were going to invite company..." Pat then noticed the stuff and had his mouth wide open.

He went and grabbed the belt and the Staff, "Were you looking through my stuff Courtney?" Pat asked sternly looking at Courtney.

"I found these in your box the other day, but in my defense I would not have found them if you were not so stupid." Courtney told him with Pat's eyes widening. "Come on, you had a super powered belt lying about in a moving box and you kept a cosmic weapon in a guitar case without even having a lock on it. You work in a lab so you could have had them moved through your work." Courtney continued and Pat paused.

Peter was watching this exchange nervously as Pat looked nervous and stated "...good point, that was pretty careless of me to leave my costume, my belt and Sylvester's Staff like these but I honestly forgot about most of the stuff..."

"Your costume, your belt? Are you saying you were the Star Spangled Kid?" Peter asked catching on to how he was saying and Pat was mentally hitting himself for letting that come out. Pat sighed and nodded with the two teenagers shocked.

"That can't be right, for you to have been the Star Spangled Kid you would have to be over 70 years old!" Courtney shouted and Pat was going over what to say. They then heard Barbara asking what was the shouting going on. Pat quickly motioned them to hide the stuff and they placed it below Courtney's bed.

Barbara got through and Pat told her "everything is fine honey, its just that Courtney snuck a boy in..." Peter and Courtney were both embarrassed and Courtney was glaring at Pat for phrasing it like that.

Barbara looked at Peter for a minute before enveloping him into a hug, "Aren't you the sight for sore eyes Peter. We have only been back in New York and already you and Courtney are being reacquainted!" Barbara squealed before letting go. Pat was stunned and Courtney annoyed, "Peter this is my new husband Pat and Pat this is Peter, he was Courtney's best friend here in New York before we moved to Blue Valley." Barbara told Pat as he then took Peter's hand to shake it warmly.

About 10 minutes later they were saying goodbye to Peter as he decided to go home for the moment. When they went back to Courtney's room Pat asked Courtney to help him take the stuff to the attic. Once they did so Pat told her "I know they should be safely storage somewhere else but they are mementos of a lost time. I know this is so much for you to take in Courtney but I promise I will explain to another day." Pat told Courtney and she accepted it.

However when she was being called for dinner she could not help but think if she could get to the stuff then what could she do with the Cosmic Converter Belt and the Staff?

It would annoy or even agitate Pat if he knew she was out using them but it just made her decide to...

**I made Pat an engineer in this to make it more believable that he was able to build his own suit of armor. Also Last chapter I saw that I gave Courtney's Mum the wrong name so I fixed it. An adaptation change I made is making Slyvester Starman (similar thing will happen in the Stargirl show) and Pat the Star Spangled Kid. Sorry if this seems fast paced.**


	3. Stargirl Begins part 1

The next morning Peter had gotten changed and was muttering to him about the situation he found himself in; not only did he reunite with Courtney but they both found out her new stepdad had been the sidekick to an old superhero. For some reason he looked younger than he should be, sure Pat was middle aged but he still looked young for someone who apparently fought crime in the 1940s.

"What's this about Courtney?" Aunt May asked walking into the room as Peter had packed his Spider-Man stuff into his backpack; Peter jumped slightly and began to think fast.

"...Forgot to bring this up Aunt May but... I saw Courtney at school yesterday and went to her house after school, her mom remarried and they moved back." Peter explained leaving out most of what happened. He didn't want her to know about the Superhero stuff just like he didn't want her to know anything about him being Spider-Man, it would make her worry and he can't do that to her especially with what happened to Uncle Ben.

"Courtney, do you mean Courtney Whitmore?" Aunt May asked looking excited and Peter gave a slight nod, "That is tremendous news Peter! I should found out where they live and invite them over!" Aunt May told him and he gave a smile as he took his backpack. They went to the living room of the apartment and hard the news playing on the TV.

"_In other news officers of the NYPD staged an arrest on librarian Alexander Wyyvern for leading criminal operations under the alias of 'the Bookworm'..._"

Peter paused upon hearing that, they caught the Bookworm? He then watched and saw the footage of several police officers taking a man with glasses, a brown hat, a brown business suit and black gloves into custody. He was listening to the reporter 'Snapper' Carr continue on:

"_Mr Wyyvern was named by several of the criminals he had hired for his operations; they had been caught thanks to the help of New York's Spider-Man..._"

Peter felt like this was a bit weird, sure the Police were trained and knew what they were doing but in many Superhero stories he heard about (like the Warrior Angel comics) or in the paper, whenever the Heroes fought criminals working for someone it usually leads to a confrontation with the boss. But he guessed reality worked differently and it's not like Superman or Batman directly fought every crime boss they fought goons working for them. He listened as the footage showed Wyyvern shout to the cameras:

"_Spider-Man, I hope you are watching this! How does it feel to not be the protagonist in this little adventure? You thought this was your Scarlet Pimpernel tale? Turns out you were merely a side character in this crime thriller... _"

Aunt May turned the TV off, "I swear the world we live in nowadays... Not only are these Metahumans, aliens and vigilantes running amok but there are crazy people going about with gimmicks. I mean this man made a conscious decision to call himself 'the Bookworm' as a criminal alias; you think Tony Montana would have been taken seriously if he went by that?" Aunt May asked sighing and Peter gave a little laugh.

He looked a little confused at the last statement; Aunt May then mentally kicked herself realizing how stupid it was to make a Scarface joke to her teenage nephew. Ben was always better at making this pop culture jokes and it rubbed off on Peter.

Peter after saying goodbye to Aunt May went on his way outside the apartment to start his journey to school, while walking he felt an alert go off on his phone; he saw it was a new morning broadcast of Just the Facts. Sighing he put in his earphones and listened to it as he made his way to the School:

"_That criminal so called mastermind the Bookworm was apprehended, not by masked menaces like Spider-Man but those with a badge on the NYPD! This shows we don't need every nut with powers going about involving themselves in matters that are for the police! Our NYPD don't hide behind masks and operate under the law and times like these show that they are the ones for this job! In the 1980s when that Chase guy went about with guns, a mask and ski goggles delivering his so called 'justice', was it another mask that caught him? No it was the NYPD, they caught up to him when he thought he was above the law and I assure you they will catch up to Spider-Man!_"

Peter shook his head as he reached the gate and saw Courtney going out of Pat's car with him not far behind. "Hey Courtney, told Aunt May that you and your Mum is back in town. Mr Dugan, I want to ask... Could you afford your house with that massive pension you must have?" Peter whispered sheepishly and Courtney made no attempt to hide her snicker.

Pat seemed to take it in good humor as he whispered back "just remember to keep it our little secret Pete..." Peter gave a nod as Pat went back into his car and drove off waving to them.

"Your stepdad seems nice Courtney." Peter told Courtney but he just shrugged shaking her head. Peter was going ask further but then had a football hit him in the head. They turned around and saw Flash and his friends laughing at them while coming over.

"Well if it isn't Puny Parker and his little new girlfriend, should we call her Braceface..." Flash laughed along with his friends only to catch the football in the face when Courtney thrown it as hard as she could at him. Flash's friends stopped laughing and were in shock, they helped Flash up while Flash's best friend a large boy by the name of Carl King angrily went up to them.

"You have got a lot of nerve doing that to the star quarterback of the Midtown Panthers! All for what, to defend Puny Parker? You have better beg on your knees for forgiveness or else..." King warned Courtney only to get kneed in his sensitive area leaving him to be helped up by his friends only they got Flash up. Most of the other students were inside and not at the gates so no witnesses to this.

Peter was trying so hard not to be amused but he was, he was also very worried, Courtney then took Peter by the arm as they went inside. "Don't get me wrong, that may have made my day but you do realize you could get into trouble for that if they rat on you." Peter told her in a stern face but she laughed him off.

"Please, it would require them admitting what happened and their pride will not allow them to do it." Courtney told him brushing his concerns off and Peter had to admit she was right; still retaliating like that would just get her into trouble with the school staff.

They went inside to go to homeroom and to start the school day, they got to their seats and sat down. Peter noticed Courtney checking on something in her backpack and glanced at it. Courtney grinned when his eyes widened when he caught glimpses of the Cosmic Converter Belt.

"Sneaked it into my bag from the attic this morning, realized there was no way I could sneak the Staff away with me." Courtney whispered and Peter was silent, she seriously did this. "I thought that maybe with this I could use this to become a Superhero myself, better than this thing staying in the attic gathering dust." Courtney told him and Peter almost jumped out of his seat.

"Are you crazy, I think that Superhero is a dangerous business and won't you get into trouble with your stepdad? I mean i think he would notice if someone is using his partner's old belt, I think that great power like this would come with great responsibility." Peter warned her, he forgot all the times he had to hide bruises from Aunt May. Luckily his powers came with a healing factor allowing him to heal quickly, depending on how severe the injuries.

"Annoying Pat will be the fun of it and I think I will be fine as the Titans went about just fine while they were our age. I think that Nightwing started out younger than us when he was Robin." Courtney replied and Peter had no retort to that. "I thought you would be more excited about this, you love Superheroes more than I ever could." Courtney told him and Peter stayed silent as the teacher came in to start the attendance.

At lunch they went to the same table and sat down, they were discussing their classes and Peter had a project about the Symkaria Civil War for Geography class but then saw Flash and his friends walking up to them. "You made enemies of me and my posse so I hope what a horrible mistake you made new meat." Flash warned but Courtney laughed in his face.

"You made an enemy of me when I saw you changed not one bit Thompson." Courtney retorted and Flash's eyes widened when he recognized her. He was about to reply when it was broken up by one of the teachers who told Flash after he was done with his lunch, that Principal Davis wanted to speak to him.

Flash only glared at them as he and his friends left. Peter shook his head as Courtney grinned at him. They just continued their lunch watching as Flash went back to his table.

* * *

After lunch Flash had gone to the outside of Principal Davis' office, he was often called here due to his behavior and his grades. Flash was never too worried as he counted on being the star player of the Midtown Panthers that he would never be in too much trouble. He went past the seat where sitting was a 17 year old boy with long hair, it was Billy Hayes not long back from suspension for physical fights.

Flash sat down on the seat farthest away from Hayes who seemed to be smirking, seemingly proud of whatever he was sent to the office for. Not only did Hayes love to get into fights but he was a total fanboy of supervillains, the only other student that could give Flash the creeps.

Flash was called in and he went and sat down at the desk of Principal Davis, Davis was an aging African American man with glasses and a blue suit. He was barely listening when as Principal Davis was going on about his grades and behavior. The usual... big consequences... he is now seriously in danger of being removed from the football team...

Wait...

Flash had woken up in shock from that from his near sleep, this can't be happening!

* * *

After school Peter had told Courtney he wanted to do some activities and Courtney let him leave with a shrug. She had something she wanted to do as well. She had gone to a costume and clothing store. She had found a low cut blue spandex shirt with a white star on it, blue shorts, red gloves, blue ski goggles and blue boots.

She left the store with her purchases in her backpack and spotted a police car rushing by with the sirens. She grinned, perfecting timing for Stargirl to make her debut...


	4. Stargirl Begins part 2

**I wanted to get this out to show I still want to write this story so sorry for the ahort length.**

Peter had after school gotten changed into Spider-Man, hopefully things could get back to normal after getting the stunning revelation that not only did his childhood friend Courtney return to Queens but her new stepdad was a superhero sidekick and was apparently a lot older than he should be.

But back to normal for him was him going out in his homemade costume using his Spider powers to fight crime and save people, so it wasn't exactly that normal compared to that but it was normal for him.

Sigh...

He had seen a police car running off and web slinged after it and came across a local deli that looked like it was falling apart. He then worriedly went closer and heard that apparently a hooded man had pointed his arms at the store and it sent a shockwave at the store causing it to collapse down. The man had gotten away in a van but police were on the lookout for him.

"Wait, what are you doing here? We don't need you sticking your note in business left to the professionals..." stated an angry voice as out of the cars was police captain Jean DeWolff, a woman with black hair in a ponytail that looked stern and no nonsense. Peter then began rushing into the store as Jean was now yelling that she was talking to him.

Peter heard mutterings about another costumed person but he had to dodge the piece of falling debris about to fall on him when he sensed it with his Spider Sense. He looked to the direction and was stunned to see a familiar person in a costume smiling at him.

"_Oh no, she didn't... She did..._" Peter thought with panic as he now saw Courtney in her new costume clearly wearing the Cosmic Converter Belt. He was screaming inside that he thought his talk to Courtney earlier might have gone through to her but apparently it did not.

"So Spider-Man, looks like for my superhero debut that I get to have a teamup with you." Courtney told him with a smile and they looked around and noticed Mr Delmar the deli's owner was the only one still in the building and was trapped underneath some debris screaming for help.

They ran over to where he was and pulled it the debris off, "Hey this feels like a breeze, the strength that my belt is giving me is really coming in handy.." Courtney beamed as they both helped Mr Delmar up to his feet. They then got him to the door and Peter sensed the entrance about to collapse.

Courtney managed to let go and catch it allowing Peter to take him to the medics outside. There were reporters coming forward asking if who Courtney was and if she was Spider-Man's sister or his girlfriend.

"No, just two heroes doing a team up. As to who I am, you can call me Stargirl the 2nd Star Spangled Kid!" Courtney told the reporters as Peter web slinged away and she began running as well to escape the police officers wanting to talk to them.

Peter then picked up Courtney to her surprise and carried her screaming to an alleyway. He put her down and she asked "what is that for? Do you always carry off the Heroes you jsut had a team up with or just the female ones?"

"What are you doing, this is a dangerous job and i don't want you get hurt because you don't understand the risks since with great power comes great responsibility. I know your stepdad was the Star Spangled Kid and you have the belt but this is serious business." Peter told her and she was now glaring at him.

"How is what I am doing any different from what you are doing and how did you know the Star Spangled kid is my stepdad?" Courtney asked getting in his face and Peter knew he had no response to her first question and he kicked himself for that mistake in revealing he knew more than he should.

"I don't know why you are giving me this speech about power and responsibility, it's the same one my friend Peter gave to me and..." Courtney stated only to pause as if she had a realization. Peter was panicking realizing what she had jsut thought off and knew he shouldn't have reused that part of the speech.

Courtney then went and unmasked him before he could try to respond, "Of course it's you Peter, to think that I saw you fighting the guys of that Bookworm when we came back to New York. So how did you get your powers?" Courtney asked excitedly as Peter grabbed his mask and goggles back.

"Look can we please talk about it later..." Peter begged and Courtney gave a slight shrug. He then climbed up the wall as Courtney then ran to find the place where she changed.

Once she changed back she looked and saw she had a new text message from Pat, understanding what it was about she nonetheless answered it:

**Just saw the news, can we talk?**

* * *

Herman Schultz was a brown haired man going in his forties and was wearing his protective suit along with large mechanized gauntlets and a yellow full face mask with a red triangle going down it.

He had been a scientist at STAR Labs but felt his inventions were being overlooked, he took part in a money laundering scheme with the company to fund one of his experiments thinking the end result could impress the higher ups enough to get him a promotion. Instead he was caught and arrested.

After he was released no lab would hire him with his criminal record and he took to getting loans and doing work with unsavory people to fund his experiments. His new prototype Shock Gauntlets were completed and he wanted to sell them to an employer.

He had made a quick getaway after what happened at the deli, he just wanted to show off the power in a public spectacle and then escape in the van. He then called his potential employer "So what do you think of the power of my Gauntlets? You want the blueprints? My asking price will be big but as you can see they deliver."

The employer called back stating "**Very impressive but I am not ready to buy anything yet, I want another public demonstration to see how they fare against Metahumans.**" The employer stated and Schultz frowned wondering what more could he want. The employer continued:

"**You take out Spider-Man and the new Stargirl and then we can talk...**"


	5. STRIPE Begins

**Sorry for the delay but is till want to work on this. Also anyone else excited for the upcoming Watchmen show?**

The next day Peter was nervously walking to the gate of Midtown High wanting to see if he could go and see Courtney before school starts. Pat would have bound to see on the news that Stargirl had gone out using his Cosmic Converter Belt and figure out what happened.

He saw Pat's cat drive up and went to the door, he was surprised to see how chipper Courtney was when she got out and greeted him. Pat got out and said goodbye to her and whispered to Peter "Make sure our new superhero here stays out of trouble in the school, will you Pete?"

Peter was stunned as he waved back to Pat as he drove off, "Okay so Pat knows and what exactly happened Courtney?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow and Courtney relayed the story:

Courtney walked home wondering what is going to happen after Pat grounds her until probably college time. She walked into the house and greeted Barbara and Pat, Pat asked Barbara if he could have a quick talk with Courtney and she agreed.

They went to the kitchen as Courtney prepared for the tongue lashing coming her way, "Saw the news, Spider-Man was seen helping out a local deli that came apart along with a new superhero called Stargirl. Guess I should have expected this..." Pat told her and Courtney just stayed silent not really wanting to think of a response.

"I have given this some thought and I decided even if I tried to stop you, you will just find a way to sneak out and keep doing this. I decided that while I will put my foot down if you show this is too dangerous for you and I want to recalibrate the belt so it will be safer for you, for the time being I will not stop you." Pat told her and Courtney blinked not sure if she heard him right.

"So is this you passing the mantle on?" Courtney asked and Pat shook his head sternly. "But this is you letting me use this?" Courtney asked taking the Cosmic Converter Belt out.

"I am recalibrating it so it will not be too dangerous and once again I will be taking it back to STAR Labs permanently if you show you are not able to do this. I am putting my foot down on you using the Staff though, much too dangerous for you. Plus I will be able to keep my eye on you personally if you decide to go out with the belt." Pat told her and Courtney blinked asking what did he mean. "If you decide to use the belt again, you will find out..." Pat told her with a smirk.

"He really said that, I don't know if he is really irresponsible or what..." Peter muttered not sure how to react to her story. Courtney shrugged having decided not to question it.

"Still it means that maybe we can start join forces permanently now. What do you think of starting our own team, are the Titans still around because if not we can be the new Teen Titans? Or how about Stars and Spiders?" Courtney asked and Peter asked her to keep it quiet as the bell rang so they went to their classes.

They managed to make it through their classes and then came lunch, Peter was already sitting down at his table eating lunch when Courtney went to sit down next to him. "So what do you think of these team names: the Avengers, the Defenders or a new young Justice League?" Courtney whispered but Peter asked her to keep it down.

"Still not sure if it's a good idea for you to go out like that, you could get into a lot of trouble and get hurt..." Peter muttered and Courtney looked at him with a raised eye.

"It's a big responsibility, when I got my powers I didn't take it seriously enough... chickened out of responding to something and well... that was when Uncle Ben died..." Peter whispered to Courtney's stunned expression. She then put a comforting hand on his shoulder as they stayed silent.

"I have my powers but I got into some dangerous situations... but if you want to still keep at it we can try patrolling together and I can give you some pointers." Peter whispered to her and she was silent for a second. She then smiled and gave him a nod.

* * *

While they were talking, Flash and Carl were having a secret conversation of their own outside. They were both mad that Principal Davis told Flash that if his behaviour and grades don't improve then he would be off the football team.

Carl told Flash he had an idea and showed him a hard drive, "I managed to get my hands on this from a guy on the streets. There is a super virus in this, it we can put it into the school mainframe then it will crash and delete the student records." Carl whispered to him and Flash asked about how were they supposed to get it into the school computers without them being noticed.

They thought about it for a second before Carl thought of something and asked "what if we got several guys together and after school we break in wearing supervillain costumes. We convince them we want to wreak the school so we get in and out with them taking the heat. We can go to Hayes and have him bring the group together, let him be the fall guy since he likes bad guys. With so many guys friends together it would be hard for anyone to keep track of who was called upon and who wasn't. We get in and put the virus into the computers and get out."

They grinned and went to Hayes at his lone table and asked him about it, quickly making plans to get it together at the last moment. Fortunately for them Hayes was on board and they grinned to themselves.

Flash whispered to Carl "I think I already have an idea for my name and costume, I think I will call myself Sportsmaster..."

* * *

After school they went to different hiding spots to change into their superhero gear which they had brought in their backpacks. They then met up in an alleyway. "So are you ready to start our first day of being official superhero partners?" Courtney asked with a big smile which Peter had returned underneath his mask.

Peter then felt his phone go off on an alert and answered it, "There is a masked guy causing quite a disturbance some blocks away!" Courtney gave a nod as she started running towards the direction and Peter web–slinging in the same direction.

They came across Schultz who was using his Shock Gauntlets to send cars flying into buildings and citizens running away while screaming for help. "So what do they call you buddy Yellow and Red Triangle Man, Circus Reject or how about Mr Wind?" Courtney asked giving a thumbs up to Peter who returned it.

"Laugh while you can Stargirl but once my Shock Gauntlets have killed you both, my employer is going to pay me big bucks for my invention!" Schultz shouted blasting a car right at Peter who barely managed to catch it holding it over his head.

Courtney was charging at him from the back while Schultz tried to blast at Peter again. She managed to take him down as he was sending another blast but it went to a nearby building.

It sent a bit of debris falling and Peter and Courtney were about to try and react when they saw a figure fly by and catch it.

They looked and saw the STRIPE armor fly down and catch the debris to put it down safely. There were reporters coming over to try and get a word as some police arrived to apprehend Schultz.

Courtney was surprised to find STRIPE grab her by the shoulders and fly her to the top of a nearby building while she was screaming.

Peter web slinged to see them worried that this maybe superhero just kidnapped his friend. Peter then caught up with them as STRIPE safely put Courtney down. "What do you call yourself buddy Iron Man? Plus who do you think you are dragging me off like that?"

"Sorry about that Courtney but it was to get us away so that we can talk and hello there Spider-Man." STRIPE said seeing Peter there. Both teens had their eyes widened when they recognised the man's voice.

Then STRIPE's torso then opened up to reveal Pat in the cockpit as it then went back down again. "This is a little project at work and it can track the Cosmic Converter Belt with me having a way to tell when it's being used. It will allow me to keep an eye on you as your partner STRIPE." Pat told her casually.

"HI there Pat, does that mean we're partners now too? Because I don't want you to be out of the loop so might as well tell you now. It's me Peter." Peter told her and Courtney winced at what Peter just said.

Courtney groaned, maybe it would have been better if she was grounded...


End file.
